[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 157 (Monday, August 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44533-44535]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-21070]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Record of Decision; Final Environmental Impact Statement General 
Management Plan; Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Texas

Introduction

    Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969, Public Law 91-190 (as amended), and the regulations 
promulgated by the Council on Environmental Quality at 40 CFR 1505.2 
the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, has prepared the 
following Record of Decision on the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for the General Management Plan for Lyndon B. Johnson 
National Historical Park.
    This Record of Decision is a concise statement of what decisions 
were made, what alternatives were considered, the environmentally 
preferred alternative, the basis for the decision, and the mitigating 
measures developed to avoid or minimize environmental impacts.

Decision (Selected Action)

    The National Park Service will implement Alternative 3, the 
proposed action, as described in the Draft and Final Environmental 
Impact Statements.

Concept

    This alternative significantly expands the park operations, 
maintenance, and interpretation levels in Johnson City and at the 
ranch. It greatly increases park outreach to the region and allows the 
public much greater access to the Texas White House.
    This alternative depends heavily on construction of a new 
combination bus maintenance facility/interpretive ranger office south 
of the Pedernales River. This new facility would allow the ranch 
maintenance and ranch operations to move into the existing bus 
maintenance facility and a visitor contact station to be installed in 
Klein's shop. Without this new facility, none of the other operations 
could be moved and this alternative could not be implemented. All 
facets of visitor interpretation and transportation would be affected.

Interpretation and Visitor Use

    Interpretive programs and facilities throughout the park would 
present all primary and many secondary interpretive themes to enhance 
the visitor experience. Visitors would find opportunities to 
participate in a range of orientation, education, and interpretive 
activities for differing levels of interest, understanding, and 
sophistication. They would be able to explore the park's diverse 
resources, visualize the setting associated with the historic time 
period interpreted, and identify with the experience and feelings of 
personalities who historically lived at or visited this site. They 
would have access to accurate, balanced, and in-depth information about 
Johnson's life and legacy.
    The interpretation would be designed to significantly increase the 
number of repeat visitors who return to the park for additional 
programs and special events. The return of the wagon transport in 
Johnson City and the opening of the Texas White House is expected to 
create considerable interest initially in visiting the park and the 
variety and number of new programs and events would continue to bring 
visitors back. The improved park experience and greater outreach 
programs would enhance the park's position within the crowded tourism 
market of south-central Texas and would be expected to substantially 
increase visitation at both the Johnson City and LBJ Ranch districts.
Johnson City District
    All facilities in this district would be open on a daily basis. 
Additional interpretive staff (up to 14 FTEs) would provide creative, 
well-researched, high quality interpretive programs. The visitor center 
would function as it does now, but with extended emphasis on children's 
interpretation, lectures, and additional interpretive presentations on 
a variety of topics.
    Ranger-led tours of the LBJ boyhood home would continue to be 
provided daily on a regularly scheduled basis. Education program 
opportunities would be expanded to educational institutions and schools 
throughout the region.
    Significant improvements in interpretive opportunities would be 
implemented at the Johnson settlement. Interpretation would be expanded 
to provide costumed interpreters at the cabin and chuckwagon on a daily 
basis. A wagon would be used to provide transportation for visitors 
from a staging area (the Smith house site) outside the historic area to 
the exhibit center, and to set the mood for the costumed interpretive 
program.
LBJ Ranch District
    Cooperative arrangements with the Lyndon B. Johnson State 
Historical Park and the Southwest Parks and Monuments Association would 
remain positive and strong with increased dependence on each 
organization to share in the responsibility of effectively presenting 
both parks' stories in all interpretive programs and materials when 
feasible. The cooperative arrangement between the state and national 
historical parks would be expanded to include cooperation/assistance 
with exhibits and interpretation and better overall integration of 
programs. Both parks would work together to encourage package bus tours 
from around the region and country.
    Interpretation at the show barn would be expanded to include 
personal services, exhibits, and audiovisual productions. There would 
be an upgrade of exhibits in the barn as well as a display of historic 
farming and ranching equipment. There would also be an increase in 
special events and education programs.
    In phase 2, the Texas White House complex would become the focal 
point of the interpretive program at the LBJ Ranch. Visitors would also 
have access to several other historic features of the Texas White House 
complex. The Secret Service command post would be restored and 
interpreted. The airplane hangar would become a flexible exhibit

[[Page 44534]]

area with multipurpose space for interpretive programs, audiovisual 
presentations, lectures, and films. The Martin barn would contain 
exhibits relating to early agricultural history on the LBJ Ranch. 
Klein's shop would be used as a visitor contact station with a limited 
SPMA sales area and restrooms.

Facility Development and Maintenance

Johnson City District
    Although the park would not look substantially different than it 
does today, some changes would be noticeable. The level of maintenance 
on buildings and landscape would be higher than at present. A cultural 
landscape report would determine the feasibility and desirability of 
restoring the landscape of the Johnson cabin and the boyhood home to a 
more historical appearance. If restoration is not considered feasible 
or desirable, the landscapes would continue to be maintained at the 
present level. The nonhistoric Smith house would be removed and the 
site landscaped to function as a staging area for the horse-drawn 
wagons. The nonhistoric Hobbs house would be disposed of either by 
exchanging the property for the historic Alexander house (which the 
park rents and maintains) or by selling the house and requiring that it 
be moved off the property. The site would then be landscaped open 
space.
    A new maintenance facility for the Johnson City district would be 
constructed south of the settlement in the back 40. The red maintenance 
building, a historic structure that is not a part of the park's 
interpretive story, would be adaptively reused or leased under the 
historic leasing program or used for other park purposes. The park 
would attempt to acquire the Masonic Lodge, the Cox tract, and the 
Alexander house. If acquired, the Alexander House would be adaptively 
reused. Scenic easements would be sought for the area along Town Creek 
between the education center (Taylor house) and the Volunteers in Parks 
campsites to the south. Town Creek provides an excellent backdrop for 
the settlement, and vegetation along its banks would protect its 
viewshed from any future development to the south and east. The park 
would work with park neighbors to ensure that any development does not 
detract from the historic character of the park.
    As a part of its ongoing research, the park would develop a 
cultural landscape report for the entire district to improve 
interpretation of historic resources and to ensure accuracy of historic 
landscapes.
    Visitors with disabilities would continue to be able to drive on 
existing maintained roads to the settlement exhibit center or ride 
accessible buses.
LBJ Ranch District
    Expanded cooperation with the state historical park could extend to 
construction of a new joint bus maintenance facility on state 
historical park property. Should that prove infeasible, the park would 
seek to purchase the Weinheimer property across the road west of the 
state historical park's maintenance facility.
    The Junction School would be restored on the exterior and 
rehabilitated on the interior for educational programs. Restrooms and 
utilities would be installed. A trail would be constructed from the 
Junction School to the Texas White House complex so that visitors could 
walk rather than ride the bus should they so desire.
    The show barn would be rehabilitated with new exhibits of ranching 
and historic farm equipment, as well as new restroom facilities and 
upgraded utilities. The ranching operation office would move to the 
vacated bus maintenance facility with the show barn becoming an 
interpretive/visitor use area.
    Utilities at the Volunteers in Parks site would be upgraded 
immediately. However, because the trailer pads are tightly arranged and 
unsatisfactory, the entire Volunteers in Parks site facility would 
eventually be moved to a site east of the communications tower/hay 
barn/boneyard and screened by vegetation and topography. Four new 
concrete RV pads would be constructed as well as a gravel access road.
    Ranch lands would be maintained in accordance with current NPS 
policies and procedures to look essentially as they did during the 
president's lifetime. A cultural landscape report would determine 
whether missing historic features of the landscape would be restored.
    Scenic easements would be purchased, wherever possible, over those 
properties within the authorized ranch boundary but not within NPS 
ownership, as a means of ensuring that the visual impact of any such 
development within those easements would be minimal.
    Development concept plans and design guidelines for the LBJ Ranch 
district would be required.
    In phase 2, the Texas White House would be stabilized and opened to 
the public. The maintenance operation would be moved out of Klein's 
shop and the structure converted to a visitor contact station/SPMA 
sales operation serving the LBJ Ranch. Once the new bus maintenance 
facility is constructed south of the Pedernales River, the vacated bus 
barn would be converted for ranch maintenance operations moved from 
Klein's shop and the ranching operation moved from the show barn.
    In phase 2, the Martin barn would be preserved with walk-through 
exhibits. The communications trailers would be stabilized, the 
exteriors restored, and the communications equipment preserved. The 
Secret Service command post would be restored for interpretive 
purposes. The LBJ hangar would be preserved and use for exhibits, 
lectures, and films. The poolhouse would be preserved as an important 
feature of the Texas White House landscape, but the interior would be 
adaptively reused.

Other Alternatives Considered

    Two other alternatives to the selected plan were evaluated in the 
draft and final environmental impact statements.
    Alternative 1 (no action) would continue the existing conditions at 
the park. It would not provide the level of access to the Texas White 
House that is expected by the public. It would ``mothball'' several 
historic structures and leave park maintenance within a historic 
structure in the ranch house complex. Bus maintenance and ranch 
interpretation would continue as at present in inadequate facilities. 
In Johnson City, the maintenance facility would remain in a historic 
structure inappropriate for such use and no attempt to protect the 
national historical park's setting would be made despite the influx of 
growth.
    Alternative 2, a ``minimum requirements alternative,'' is 
characterized by small, incremental changes in everyday maintenance, 
interpretation, and administration. It raise the level of maintenance 
and preservation, provides additional personal services for 
interpretation, modestly expands educational outreach to the local 
community, and provides the additional staff necessary to prepare the 
Texas White House for opening to the public on a limited schedule. At 
the Ranch District, the maintenance facility would be moved to a new 
structure in the vicinity of the communications tower. Several historic 
structures would be stabilized or adaptive reused that are currently 
preserved in a less than usable state. In Johnson City, the park would 
seek to acquire the Alexander House and two properties along U.S. Route 
290 to protect an important Johnson family related structure and the 
south viewshed from the park.

[[Page 44535]]

Environmentally Preferred Alternative

    A Record of Decision must identify the environmentally preferable 
alternative, an alternative that causes the least damage to the 
biological environment, and that best protects, preserves, and enhances 
historic, cultural, and natural resources. Alternative 3, the selected 
action, is the environmentally preferred alternative. It provides the 
greatest level of preservation of historic structures of all 
alternatives, provides the largest economic benefits to Blanco and 
Gillespie counties, and provides the most comprehensive interpretive 
experience for the visitor. Similar impacts on soils and water 
resources and quality occur among the three alternatives. Alternative 3 
has the most impact upon floodplains. It proposes construction in 
Johnson City that may occur within a floodplain. The proposed new bus 
maintenance facility on the state historical park property may be 
within the 500 year floodplain. Further evaluation would determine 
whether mitigating measures are required but only minor impact on the 
floodplains of Town Creek and the Pedernales River is expected because 
both sites already have development and the area of new impact would be 
small.

Basis for Decision

    The selected action includes a combination of actions that the 
National Park Services believes will provide the best interpretative 
experience for visitors, provide the highest level of preservation for 
historic structures, and provide a high level of educational outreach 
to the community. In particular, the Texas White House would be open to 
the public to the greatest extent possible and with the highest level 
of interpretation. The selected action has only a minor impact upon the 
national historical park's natural resources.

Measures To Minimize Harm

    The Texas State Historic Preservation Office was consulted 
throughout the development of alternative and ``strongly supports the 
implementation of Alternative #3, which is the National Park Service's 
proposed course of action.'' Further consultation will occur prior to 
implementation of individual actions described within the plan.
    A floodplain delineation along Town Creek will be necessary within 
Johnson City prior to construction to determine whether mitigation 
measures need to be implemented prior to construction of maintenance 
facilities. Any bus maintenance facilities constructed for the Ranch 
District would be designed to be out of the 500 year floodway.

Conclusion

    The above factors and considerations justify selection of the 
alternative identified as the proposed action in the final 
environmental impact statement.

    Dated: August 15, 1999.
John T. Tiff,
Acting Superintendent, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park.
[FR Doc. 99-21070 Filed 8-13-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-70-M